WE may be, given the level of tribalism in Scottish football, small in number, but tonight all of us, regardless of which particular tribe we belong to, with the good of Scottish football at heart, will be Celtic fans - as they take-on Barcelona in their own Catalan fortress.
Received wisdom has it that Barca only have to turn-up to win this one. Such thoughts have no place in the Scottish psyche - I was brought-up in the days when "Gerrintaerum" was the battle cry of the Tartan Army; and while such a basic tactic has no apparent place in modern football and getting tore right intae the likes of Senor Puyol might be a tad dangerous, even for Scott Brown, damage limitation and 4-6-0 tactics does not sit well with the personna of Neil Lennon or Celtic.
In their final warm-up games prior to tonight's show-down, both Celtic and Barca went nap in domestic games. Seville, unlike St Mirren, didn't go for damage limitation, they had a go back at Barca and got through their defence thrice. Celtic might still lose, but, I am sure the average Celtic fan would rather see his side lose 5-3 having a go than 2-0 or 3-0 attempting merely to stem the tide of Messi magic.
Go on Celtic, have a go - they don't like it up 'em ye ken.
THE esteemed Tom English of Scotland on Sunday came up with a cracker while doing one of his increasingly-frequent BBC Scotland gigs at the weekend. A wee aside here - I have never understood how the erudite, intelligent, Irishman with the English surname got onto BBC Scotland as a football pundit; he speaks well, he knows his subject and he never played for either Celtic or Rangers, strange.
However,back on-thread. Tom told of floating out of a two-hour, one-to-one interview with "Smokin'" Joe Frazier, the one-time Heavyweight Champion of the World, back when there was only THE Heavyweight Champion of the World, to receive a text informing him (English) that his request for a similar one-to-one interview with Kirk Broadfoot had been refused.
A former colleague, who is THE Scottish sports writer for one of the biggest of the London Sundays, told me once of being amazed at the co-operation and warm welcome he received when, in previewing a Rangers' Champions League game, he was allowed a one-to-one interview with the coach of their forthcoming German opponents. Needless to say he was not accorded the same access to Walter Smith.
English explained that while his beef was with Rangers, Celtic were similarly unwilling to grant access to their management and players - preferring to only grant one-to-ones to their tame in-house publications, to defend the "brand".
Of course, it is a two-way street. The big two Scottish clubs wish to defend their "brand", but, they are surely correct to deny the red-top tabloid rottweillers access to footballers who proudly wear their IQs on their back each Saturday (although given squad numbers, some probably don't have an IQ equivalent to their squad numbers).
Mind you, the more time I spend researching historical football pieces, the more I become convinced that things were better in the old days, when football writers were allowed to opine and pontificate - not re-write inane painting by numbers type docile interviews between "stars" and the tame, in-house Pravda-style magazines and websites.
The likes of 'Rex' or 'Waverly' writing: "I feel that Gordon Smith is better-equipped than Willie Waddell to torment the left flank of the English defence in the forthcoming Hampden international" had, I believe, a bit more gravitas than reading: "Craig Levein - pick my mate Wan Fittit tae baffle the Belgians" says Breengers' midfield maestro Al Cluggim (as told to www.Breengers.co.uk).
JUNIOR football is a different planet. This wee point was driven home to me at the weekend, when one of the "name" writers for one of our top Sunday papers identified one of the main SFA Board members as 'Tom Johnston - president of the SJFA'.
Tam, a fine Neilston man, who has given decades of service to the juniors, is not president of the SJFA - that post is held by another wonderful servant of Scottish football, Cumnock's George Morton - but he is Secretary of the SJFA, and a damned fine one too.
But, I digress. Saturday saw the second round of the Emirates Scottish Junior Cup. This is the true first round - the actual first round is the one in which they reduce the 170 entrants down to the 128 who will eventually provide the two finalists next May. As ever, there were one or two "shocks", some big defeats for wee sides, a whole string of postponed games due to water-logged pitches and a few replays.
Yes, and Auchinleck Talbot scored six goals. I've got a millionaire mate, a Talbot Bastard since birth who now lives in some style in the Sudetenland. He e-mailed last week, bereft because Talbot had lost on penalties to Irvine Meadow in the Ayrshire Sectional League Cup Final.
He'll e-mail this week, a lot happier. I meanwhile am distraught, my wee team went out at the weekend - and we didn't even have the consolation of a good, strong protest. It will be a long season from now on.
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